Orono and Hancock
Kenneth Stuart Templeton Jr. died on Feb. 3, 2019, in Durham, N.C. He had moved thereto be closer to family after the death of his wife, Lois Main Templeton, three months prior. He was born to Elizabeth Proudfit Templeton and Kenneth Stuart Templeton in Evanston, Ill., on July 23, 1923. He was raised in Lake Forest, Ill., and spent two years atWilliams College until World War II interrupted his studies. He volunteered to join the 10th Mountain Division and trained at Camp Hale in the Colorado Rockies before being shipped to the front in Italy. He served as a 2nd lieutenant and was injured in the line of duty toward the end of the war. The year after his return he married Lois Dickinson Main in 1947.
Ken finished his degree in history at Williams College, then taught high school briefly before moving to California to begin his career with institutions that support the work of libertarian scholars. A self-described “lifelong libertarian and implacable enemy of authoritarianism,” he liked to impress the friends of his teenage children by proclaiming himself an anarchist. In actuality, he was a traditional man who revered order and common sense, even while occasionally pushing those limits. Ken and Lois lived in Northern California and Indianapolis for most of their lives, with the majority of summers spent on Hancock Point. He loved to take the family on ski trips in California and Colorado, often including relatives and friends. His sense of fun always came out on those trips. In his later years he developed a fascination, some might call it an obsession, with John Wayne, and became known as “Duke,” starting with his grandchildren and then by practically everyone. He continued to enjoy playing pranks and teasing any and all who would put up with him. We always reassured those who were new to this that it was a sign of affection. In 2011, Ken and Lois moved to Orono and lived the last seven years of their lives at Dirigo Pines, where he enjoyed life in spite of increased challenges. Nothing stood in the way of a martini every evening and a bowl of ice cream before bed. He and Lois leave behind three children, Kenneth (wife, Nancy), John (wife, Emily), and Elizabeth, as well as seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Ken and Lois loved the natural land and donations may be made, if desired, to Frenchman’s Bay Conservancy. The family will gather in Madison in October to inter his ashes and raise a toast during cocktail hour.